GoPro CEO Still Sees Growth in China

GoPro Chief Executive Officer Nick Woodman still sees China as an essential market and growth opportunity for the action camera-maker, despite an economic downturn in the world’s second-largest economy.

” China was more difficult in 2015 but we still managed to grow 2 percent,” Woodman said in an interview with Bloomberg TV Thursday. “We have sales and marketing workplaces in China and operations as well – it’s an essential center for us.”

Sales from the Asia Pacific region are a benefit for GoPro, with growth rates in Thailand, Korea and Japan running several times much faster than in China, where consumers have cut back on purchases of whatever from iPhones to air conditioning unit. Gdp in the final quarter of 2018 increased at the slowest rate considering that the global financial crisis, in the middle of a trade battle with the United States that continues to drag on.

To avoid possible tariffs, GoPro is moving most of its US-bound video camera production out of China. Beginning in the second quarter, that production will shift to Guadalajara, Mexico. Woodman stated even without tariffs, the business would conserve money with the move.

” China is getting more expensive to do business in,” Woodman stated. “There are some expense benefits to moving some of our production to Mexico. There’s supply chain benefits.” Woodman included that “Malaysia was a consideration, however at the end of the day Mexico’s got fantastic facilities.”

On Wednesday GoPro reported net income, omitting particular items, of $42 million, snapping numerous consecutive quarters of losses. Sales jumped 13 percent to $377 million, exceeding experts’ estimates of $374.3 million. The business has actually been trying to produce profits from a GoPro Plus subscription service that instantly publishes photos and video footage to an account online. GoPro now has 199,000 active paying customers, up more than 50 percent from a year previously. Woodman stated the software application service is currently having a meaningful influence on GoPro’s gross margins.